Woman Files Dish Lawsuit Alleging TCPA Violations

A woman has filed a Dish lawsuit class action on behalf of herself and all those similarly situated alleging the American-based direct-broadcast satellite service company of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Plaintiff Kristin H., a Florida resident, filed the Dish lawsuit in Florida federal court on Feb. 2, 2018.

According to the Dish lawsuit, Kristin says that the company placed an automated and prerecorded call to her cellular phone, a violation of the TCPA.

Kristin alleges that she was never a customer, according to the Dish lawsuit. In fact, she iterates that through the company’s “aggressive contact schedule,” they “bombard unsuspecting consumers, with whom it has no relationship, with robocalls and prerecorded messages.”

Kristin says that she “has never had a business relationship with DISH and never consented to be contacted by DISH on her cellular telephone.”

According to the Dish lawsuit, Kristin received several prerecorded and automated message calls throughout December 2017 and January 2018. On Dec. 6, 2017, she says that the company mistakenly called her thinking that she was another consumer by the name of “Maria.” She told the representative that she was not Maria and asked them to stop contacting her. But she says that the calls continued.

Kristin also says that she knew she was being contacted through an automatic telephone dialing system, or ATDS. When she would answer the call, she heard a prerecorded greeting before being routed to a live agent, the Dish lawsuit states.

Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)

To curtail the increasing number of telephone marketing calls, the TCPA was enacted by Congress in 1991. The TCPA regulates auto-dialed calls, prerecorded calls, unsolicited faxes, text messages, and telemarketing calls.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), it is authorized to set rules and regulations implementing the TCPA. The restrictions and rules set by the TCPA include the use of automatic telephone dialing systems and artificial or prerecorded voice messages.

According to TCPA rules and regulations, telemarketers are required to:

• Receive a consumer’s prior written consent before making any robocalls
• Provide an automated and interactive “opt-out” mechanism during robocalls for consumers to let telemarketers know that they would no longer like to be called
• No longer let an “established business relationship” be sufficient, and that through TCPA regulations, a prior express written consent is required.

As of Oct. 16, 2013, prior express written consent was required for all texts, pre-recorded calls, and auto-dialed calls sent to a wireless phone. However, there are some exceptions that may be noted. These include:

• Calls made for emergency purposes
• Calls not made for a commercial purpose
• Calls that do not include a pre-recorded message and are dialed manually
• Calls delivering a “health care” message by a “covered entity” or “business associate”
• Calls made by a tax-exempt organization

In 2003, the FCC also established a Do-Not-Call registry, nationwide in scope, which covers both interstate and intrastate calls. The registry also covers all telemarketers with the exception for specific nonprofit organizations.

The Dish Lawsuit is Case No. 8:18-cv-00340-RAL-TGW, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Join a Free TCPA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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